Marine protection in

In March 2022, the Bridging Island Plan (BIP) voted to develop ‘a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)’ within its upcoming Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) by the end of 2023. This decision marked a significant milestone in our efforts to protect 30 per cent of Jersey’s waters.

Jersey already has a good track record of marine protection. A wildlife law exists (Wildlife Jersey) Law 2021) which provides numerous marine species such as seals, tuna, seahorses and dolphins with legal protections. Jersey is even home to the largest pod of bottlenose dolphins in Europe.

In addition to the protection of marine species, the Government has taken steps to protect marine habitats across it’s waters. Today,

6.5 per cent of its waters are protected from mobile fishing gears (such as trawling and dredging) in the form of MPAs. This network harbour beautiful seagrass meadows, fragile maerl beds and rich kelp forests and are essential in providing us with climate mitigation, food and biodiversity. Seagrass, for example, is capable of growing as tall as an adult human while also being 35 times more effective than Amazonian rainforests in taking up and storing carbon.

Jersey’s MPAs represent a gold standard approach to conservation and contrast with the UK where despite MPAs covering more than 38 per cent of the UK’s domestic seas a mere eight per cent of this network is fully protected from destructive fisheries such as bottom trawling. These kinds of MPAs are known as ‘paper parks’. A report in 2021 by the Marine Conservation Societey found that between the 2015 and 2018, the very sandbanks and reefs being offered ‘protection’ by the UK’s offshore MPAs experienced nearly 90,000 hours of bottomtowed fishing.

Despite Jersey’s well protected MPAs, much of our Island’s marine environment remains unprotected and at risk from damaging fisheries and development such as offshore wind farms. Blue Marine is campaigning alongside The National Trust for Jersey and many other islanders and organisations to secure a Marine Park covering at least 30 per cent of Jersey’s territorial waters. The network of MPAs created